21   Dicembre   2012

The overall 2012 results for the Italian ceramic tile industry

Again in 2013 the outlook is positive only for exports, thanks to the recovery already under way in North America, Asia and the Gulf region. Cersaie 2013 will run from Monday 23 to Friday 27 September.

Four years on from the 2009 financial crisis, Europe’s economy is experiencing a further downturn, prompting a particularly severe recession in the most heavily indebted countries of southern Europe and in the construction industry. This situation is reflected in the Italian ceramic tile industry's 2012 results, which reveal a year of widespread deterioration following the two previous years of recovery, although the last few months of 2012 have seen growth in a number of export markets such as the United States. These are just a few of the details emerging from the end-of-year report presented by Confindustria Ceramica’s Chairman Franco Manfredini, who also announced that the opening day of Cersaie 2013 will be brought forward to Monday 23 September.

The intensification of the crisis in the Italian construction market has resulted in a 17% drop in domestic ceramic tile sales to a total value of close to 95 million square metres. This sharp decline has prompted one of the biggest falls in total sales ever reported in the industry’s history (-7.3%), only partially offset by the very positive increase in average selling prices (up 5.3% in just 12 months). The US market performed strongly during the last few months of 2012, including growth in housing starts and higher demand for both US produced tiles and imports in the first 10 months of the year (+6%).

Thanks to its continuous investments in new technologies and its ability to exploit growth opportunities wherever they occur, the Italian ceramic tile industry is seeing good growth prospects for next year in the NAFTA region (+5.5%), the Gulf states, (+6.6%), North Africa (+4.4%) and Latin America (+3.6%). Growth will be more limited in the Far East (+2.9%) and Western Europe (+0.4%), while sales in Italy are expected to stabilise at below current levels (-2.1%).

In this situation, the Italian ceramic tile industry will be focusing even more strongly on exports, for which purpose Italy needs to become more competitive through lower energy costs, lower levels of business and property taxation, and a lower fiscal burden and consequently labour costs.

At its last meeting, the Confindustria Ceramica Executive Board decided to bring the opening date of Cersaie forward to Monday 23 September and to end the show on Friday 27 September so as to maintain the five-day duration. This should make it easier for international buyers to attend over five working days.